Well, the gang’s all here and we’re ready to fly on to the Kahiltna Glacier to start our Denali expedition. We spent all day packing our gear and preparing for the trip, paying close attention to the finest details. We are all very excited to get on the mountain and start climbing! Hopefully the weather holds and we can fly tomorrow morning. We will update you on our progress as soon as we can. Stay tuned!

After landing at Basecamp our team loaded our sleds, grabbed our packs and we were on our way. We moved during the night to 7,800’ on the Kahiltna Glacier, located at the base of Ski Hill. Everyone is doing well. The weather has been beautiful- nice and warm during the day and good travel conditions at night.

Hello from the Kahiltna Glacier. We had beautiful weather yesterday and were able to fly in to Base Camp. Thanks to K2 Aviation and our turbine Otter pilots Jeff and Randy for a great flight. The weather was warm and sunny at base camp, and we took advantage of it by lounging around! (we needed to wait for the air and snow temperatures to cool down for safe and efficient travel conditions).

By the time we left camp, at around 11pm, the conditions were perfect for walking, and stayed that way all the way to the base of Ski Hill at 7,800’ where we made our camp at 4 a.m. Now we’re enjoying bagel and cream cheese with smoked salmon for brunch. We’re planning to continue with our nocturnal ways and move to 9500’ tonight.

Last night, after the snow firmed up enough for efficient travel, we packed up camp and moved up to our new camp at 9600’; this included tackling Ski Hill, our first big hill of the trip. Everyone did a great job hauling sleds and heavy packs up to camp. We slept in this morning (8 hours of sleep!) and had a relaxing brunch in our newly constructed cook tent. We are planning to lounge around a bit, rehydrating and resting, in preparation for our next move up to 11,200’. The weather is nice right now, with partly cloudy skies and a moderate wind out of the north. We’ll be in touch again soon, hopefully nestled into a cozy camp at 11,200’.

Happy Fathers Day from our Denali crew! We’re just checking in from our new home at 11,200’. We moved up here yesterday in nice weather, but shortly after we arrived the winds picked up and it started to snow lightly. The gusty winds and snow continued thru the night, but it seems to be calming down this morning. We’re not too concerned though, because we are planning to take a full rest day today. We deserve it after 3 hard days of carrying heavy packs and pulling sleds up to 11k.

We enjoyed seeing Tyler Jones and the RMI June 5th Denali crew here at camp as they are descending after a successful summit. They are eager to get back to base camp and fly back to Talkeetna. But unfortunately the current weather is making them drag their feet and hang here in camp.
We’ll be in touch again soon…

Our team had a great day today, putting in a cache at 13,700’ at Windy Corner. We returned to a day time schedule, and enjoyed a warm and sunny day today. The weather is beautiful here at the 11,000’ camp tonight; there is blue sky above, clouds below, and no wind. We’re all in our sleeping bags and looking forward to a good night’s rest.

If the weather is good tomorrow morning we are planning to move our camp up to 14,200’. We are feeling ready and are looking forward to the challenge of tomorrow. That’s it for now…time to get some zzzz…

Hi guys, this is Mike checking in from the 11k camp on Denali. All is well. We decided to spend another day here at 11,200’ instead of moving up to 14,200’ today. We are spending the day resting, eating, and getting more acclimated to the altitude before venturing higher. We are hoping to move up to 14k tomorrow, weather pending. Until then, we’re enjoying the sunny, hot weather and just lazing around. Hopefully our next dispatch will be from higher ground.

On The Map

We are hanging on news of your great adventure. Your aunt is loading the Blog at the Renoir so that you will have a vastly expanded fan club amongst the geriatric set. We hope to see you in some pictures sent back from your team with a large smile on your face. We are all thinking of you and wishing you all the best.

Love Dad, Mom, Brooklyn Spencer and Daisy.

Posted by: charles selby on 6/20/2012 at 8:30 pm

Stan-
Is that a cumulonimbus w/anvil I see? Whoa! Stakes will be handy! Keep your eyes on the Summit! Oh, longest day of the year is today—extra daylight! See you tomorrow, love me

We had great weather today and the team climbed strong, moving our camp up to 14,200’. We are now well established on the upper mountain as we continue to acclimate. Tomorrow we will make a quick trip back to Windy Corner to retrieve the cache of supplies that we carried up there two days ago.
We recently spoke via radio with RMI Guide Jake Beren and their team as they were descending the summit ridge after a successful summit. Congratulations to the team! We look forward to seeing them tomorrow when they descend from high camp.

On The Map

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All the best. It is fantastic that you are now on the high part of the mountain. We are looking at the magnificent pictures on the website. It must be an incredible experience to be at that altitude getting close to the top of the world. We look forward to the stories. Keep safe.

Love Dad, Mom, Brooklyn and Spencer

Posted by: charles selby on 6/22/2012 at 7:22 am

Best wishes from Colorado. Kobi is loving life here in Cdale with his buddy Bayou!

Our team had a pretty relaxing day today; it started with a leisurely breakfast, then we went back to Windy Corner to retrieve our cache, and then we relaxed all afternoon. The two hour round trip to Windy Corner was a good leg stretcher. And the relaxing afternoon sure felt good also.

This afternoon we welcomed Jake Beren’s team back to 14k after their successful summit bid. It was good to see the whole team in good shape after their climb. And it was a pleasure to have water waiting for them and to make them bacon quesadillas as they repacked their backpacks and rested here. They continued their descent to 11k, and are planning to be at the airstrip tomorrow.

We are planning on taking a rest day here at 14k tomorrow, in order to be strong for our carry up high above 16k.

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So glad the trip is going well. It is amazing to see all the snow and think of the cold while we hit 89 today and it is dry, dry , dry. Enjoy your rest day and thanks for the updates.
Missy

Posted by: missy prudden on 6/22/2012 at 8:46 pm

For someone that lives in snow country, you guys have a lot of snow
It sure seems incredible, hope every one is well and all continues to go well.
Matt, This has to be the high light of your life. All Take care, climb safely
Thanks so much for the updates. Don Pennington

Hello again from 14,200’ on Denali! The weather was beautiful today, and we enjoyed it by taking a nice short hike out to the Edge of The World, a spectacular viewpoint near our camp. Then we reviewed and practiced fixed line travel with our ascenders. The rest of the day was spent lounging around, eating, napping, listening to music, and telling lies. We enjoyed a hearty dinner of black bean and chicken quesadillas, and now we’re all getting horizontal and settling in for the night. We are planning to carry some supplies up high tomorrow, in preparation for moving up to high camp later in the week for our summit bid. Everyone is doing quite well adjusting to the 14,200’ altitude of our camp, and I expect that we will all do well climbing higher tomorrow. Of course we have the luxury of returning to our comfortable camp at 14k tomorrow night for a good night’s sleep.

That’s all for now. We’ll be in touch again tomorrow night after our carry. Thanks for all the great comments on the blog. Keep them coming!